Its my strong suggestion to Anna Hazare and team that they should stand in this upcoming election whenever they feel they are ready for the same and proove to the society that YES if genuine people elect in election what changes and development they can bring in society. Anna team knows very well that these plitician( Congress and BJP etc are very strong and powerfull and they dont even think to bring such a bill(Lokpal) through which they themself come under any trial fon any corruption case. so WHY they will bring such a bill. Please understand Anna team it is very difficult for common man like us to fight against these powerfull polician and force them to bring such bill. So the only solution is that you all should stand in election as you all know you will only win election and prove all county a great development in your areas. Then people will realise that if honest and intelligent people like you all will stand in election our country will develop in few years and for their own benifit people will give vote to only honest policians. So I request you please stand in election. Wait for your reply.

First of all I would like to say that I am a follower of Annaji and Team Anna but I wanted to convey to you certain very important things

1) Its been around 1 to 2 years that this movement of janlokpal had started but yet there is no solution,the main reason for this is that no party is willing to bring janlokpal as they are scared of it.

2)How many times will annaji go on anshan with no result at the end of it,and anna would have to leave the fast due to bad health.

3)People who are following will ultimately lose interest as there is no solution.

4)I would like to suggest that YOU MAKE A PARTY AND CONTEST ELECTION or atleast tell us whom to vote, as every party is same and corrupt then what is the point in voting congress or BJP,years will pass without janlokpal.

5)Annaji is telling that he is willing to die for India,but i am just not getting it as to why he and team anna are scared to make a party and contest election.Do it along with baba ramdev
and we the people of India will vote for you and together we will change India.

This question has come up a few times in the past, and let me re-post my views on it:

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This is a very important question you have all raised, and I feel that it should be considered seriously.

A lot of people have attempted to find a solution to the Indian political maladies before... like suggesting a Presidential form of elections at one extreme to indirect forms of elections starting with local self government, state funding of elections, prescribing qualifications for candidates, and the like. Each has its merits, but we have not so far met with much success primarily because all of these involve reforming our electoral processes, which can only be done by the very politicians who would see a threat from such reforms.

That should not stop us from keeping on attempting till we find a lasting solution. Because I believe we are a great nation suffering from some very bad politics and political leadership. We certainly deserve better.

So, the question arises as to why Anna and his team should not consider fighting the elections and set things right. There are some serious pitfalls in this. At this point in time, all those who are opposed to corruption (which is a large majority of aam aadmi) are united behind Anna.

If Anna were to form a political party and contest elections or field candidates, we need to understand how he or Team Anna will face the following tricky issues:

1. What will be the party's stand on divisive issues like reservations (in general, and in every sphere, including Lokpal Drafting Committee), splitting large states into smaller ones (like Telengana), Armed Forces Special Powers Act (in sensitive states where there's insurgency & infiltration of terrorists), Prohibition, pricing of agricultural commodities (free market pricing will help agriculturists, but will increase food prices several fold), Environment Vs Industry, FDI Policy, etc.? As a political party, Anna will be forced to take a position. Once Anna takes a position, the people behind Anna will start getting divided; for example, if Anna favours or opposes reservations, either way, this forum will become a war field. Politicians will fan these differences multi-fold, and soon Anna will be a spent force.

2. With a corrupt system, individuals can't make a big difference. Even before any changes can be brought about, which will surely take some time, at least some elected representatives will try to make a quick buck, or there will be reasons for people to suspect so. How will Anna handle them? If he sends them out, Anna's support will come down, and people will start getting disenchanted, saying he can't even keep his flock together. If suspicions can come about a person as high as Swami Agnivesh, who will Anna be able to trust for the 100s and 1000s of responsibilities?

3. Anna will be forced to ally with at least some individuals and political parties. Will he, for instance, ally with the Congress? BJP? CPM? CPI? JDS? JDU? FB? BJD? RJD? TMC? DMK? AIADMK? NCP? NC? Damned he will be if he allies with any of them, and damned he will be if he doesn't.

4. Anna will be forced to name a successor, or heads for various tasks, and this may divide the civil society again.

Even aside from all these, I feel a person of Anna's stature should not be forced to take positions on subjective issues. He's been against Corruption, and there can be no two objective opinions on whether we want corruption or not. Not so on subjective issues.

Soon enough, Anna will be strongly criticized; the more he gets criticized, the less powerful leader he'll be seen as. Remember the Janata 1977 experiment?

I outline below a simple way by which Team Anna can stand in elections, and we could transform our political system, overcoming the above pitfalls.

A Suggestion To Solve Indian Political Maladies.
===================================

First, let's see the problems of Indian politics today, and what we'd want to see happen.

1. People vote for the parties or candidates in elections not because they like them, but of the TINA factor ('There Is No Alternative). Even if people know of a good candidate standing in the elections in their constituency, they are forced not to vote for that person on most occasions because such a candidate is unlikely to win, and so they vote for a second or third 'worst' candidate to avoid electing the 'worst' candidate. The yo-yo effect of electing 2 (or 3) parties/ candidates alternatively is due to this. This will never do any good to the people in the long run. We need make it possible for good people to win the elections.

2. Politics has become a 'high stakes' game. At stake is lakhs of crores of money. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". No wonder political parties invest part of their ill-gotten money and muscle power to capture political power perpetually. Even honest and competent persons of eminence have been found to tolerate and preside over corrupt, inefficient and atrocious governments because their only alternative is to leave the entire field to the unscrupulous. We need to make it impossible for leaders who are corrupt, inefficient and bad in any respect from hijacking power.

3. Politics breeds corruption which feeds politics, and the vicious circle appears unbreakable. Most of the black money is either generated by politicians, or with their blessings, or with their acquiescence. We need to break the vicious cycle.

4. Politics has become a dirty game, politicians freely indulging in looting and murders. We need to remove the dirt from our politics.

5. Instead of politicians and political parties focusing on what's good for the people, they focus on what will get them votes, by hook or crook. And the few good individuals who attempt to correct it cannot succeed, because the political mafia system won't permit it. But, somehow, we need to make good governance alone matter.

6. While honest people typically shun politics, people with no scruples find it just their kind of game. They stoop to any levels to conquer. In today's political system, it is extremely difficult for well meaning people to stop this rot, as they have to either be outsider critics or insiders who tolerate the ills just to survive. We need to make it possible for honest leaders to operate and assert their positions in this milieu.

I can go on and on, but we all know what all need to be corrected, and how good politics should be.

How do we bring about such a change in Indian politics without changing the constitution, without the help of the powers that be, and without Team Anna having to take a position on divisive issues?

Let me present a scenario. Please reflect on it and react.

Let's imagine Anna forms a new political party, at the national level, whose name is suggestive of 'watchdog'. It would be lead by a group of very eminent non-political leaders (say, 12-25 eminent personalities drawn from different States and different fields, and with fair representations of all sections of the society), who won't contest any elections, nor hold any posts, but they will generally be acceptable to most of the people across all cross-sections in India. They won't become CM, PM or whatever. They would all be not only people's favourite leaders, but also people with impeccable credentials, with no criminal track record. All the decisions in the party would be taken by this team.

This Party would have no ideology except facilitating good governance. It would have no stated position on any subjective issue, whether it is economics, culture, caste, religion, or whatever. The constitution of the party would be simple. It won't permit its members to hold any position in or related to the Government, nor express their views in public. Only the party's appointed spokespersons would speak in public. There would, of course, be inner party democracy giving an opportunity for the members to speak within its internal forums.

This party will be unlike all other political parties. The goal of the party will be NOT to come to power, but to reform politics from within, acting as a watchdog.

A good candidate with excellent credentials within the constituency (should not be from any of the existing political parties) would be selected by the party leadership to contest from each constituency. The party would appeal to the people to elect a 'really good candidate' or the candidate of a party in whom they have total faith. If they don't find such a party or candidate, this party would request the people to vote for its candidate. This is the equivalent of the 'NONE OF THEM' vote, which many people have been talking about. Except that, in this model, we don't need a constitutional reform to make this possible.

Let's see what will happen if this were to happen.

When people are dissatisfied with all the candidates and/or parties (which is often the case), they now have the good option of electing a 'WATCHDOG', without letting their vote go to waste. They don't have to fear that if they don't vote for the second or third worst candidate/ party, the worst candidate/ party would win, because the 'WATCHDOG' could well win. If more people prefer the 'WATCHDOG', the constituency would have successfully prevented most or all the bad candidates/ parties from winning. The number of independent candidates who stand just because they are opposed to all the parties/ candidates would come down, as there will no longer be any need for it. The votes of all those who don't like any party/ candidate would get consolidated. This will even, very likely, increase the % of votes cast. With media available to popularize it, this party won't have to spend much money in getting itself popularized.

Over time, by properly focusing on good governance, it is possible for this party to gain the popular support.

What if a problem arises if the WATCHDOG party's candidates win a majority in Parliament/ any Assembly, or if there's a hung parliament/ assembly where it is not possible for anyone to form a Government without the support of the WATCHDOG party? Isn't there the possibility of division within the ranks of the elected representatives? Since the party has no interest in coming to power, and its members are committed to vote 'en bloc' as per the decision of the Party Presidium, its members would have no publicly stated differences of opinion. And even if the other political parties try to influence some of its members, it won't help them much, as the options of its members are extremely limited.

So, soon enough, hopefully in the very first elections, a lot of the candidates of this 'WATCHDOG' party could get elected. And this Party leadership will be able to dictate to the other parties about what it expects from them if they need the support of this Party. This Party is not obliged to support any political party only based on their numerical strength in the Parliament; it would support parties only based on promised good policies and good governance, and delivery of the same.

On subjective/ divisive issues, like whether a State has to be divided or not, whether reservations should be extended or not, etc., the WATCHDOG party could ideally remain neutral, or take a stand based on the majority view of the Party Presidium.

On objective issues, like corruption, maintenance of law and order, upholding the constitution, etc., the Party could take a firm view, and bring down Governments, if need be. If it becomes necessary, it may even support smaller parties to come to power, but on the promise of good governance. It should wield the very same kind of hold that members of smaller political parties are able to wield in an alliance, except that this hold will be of a positive nature.

When this happens, it's possible that the % of votes cast in the elections could go up significantly, as people would have a 'real choice'.

Incidentally, it may even obviate the need for 'the right to recall' which Anna has raised (but may not gain political or even popular backing easily).

I'm of the opinion that this can completely transform the Indian polity.

The goal of this party is to make its presence felt, and make political parties so accountable to the people that, otherwise, people have an option of not electing any of the major 'political' parties.
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If Anna were to form a political party and contest elections or field candidates, we need to understand how he or Team Anna will face the following tricky issues:

1. What will be the party's stand on divisive issues like reservations (in general, and in every sphere, including Lokpal Drafting Committee), splitting large states into smaller ones (like Telengana), Armed Forces Special Powers Act (in sensitive states where there's insurgency & infiltration of terrorists), Prohibition, pricing of agricultural commodities (free market pricing will help agriculturists, but will increase food prices several fold), Environment Vs Industry, FDI Policy, etc.? As a political party, Anna will be forced to take a position. Once Anna takes a position, the people behind Anna will start getting divided; for example, if Anna favours or opposes reservations, either way, this forum will become a war field. Politicians will fan these differences multi-fold, and soon Anna will be a spent force.

@Ganesan: i do not agree with some of ur points.
After making a party or winning election,the sole question for anna and team anna should be

Is the decision in favour of the country and its people??

if the answer is yes, then you have to go ahead with it,as there are always 2 types of people
one who agrees and the other who does'nt

The ones who does'nt agree will first laugh at you,then challenge you, and when they realize that you are right, they will follow you.

Getting already scared of what will happen after election is not the answer
then you have no right in expecting something from congress or any other party.

Political parties are now starting a new trend and trial is taken in UP by uniminious election of Mrs Dimple Yadav( wife of Akhilesh Yadav, CM). In this new trick dvised by these parties, public or voters don't come in picture and leaders can themselve decide. They will save lot of money spent in election and enjoy power turn by turn . During president election also, this trick is tried by putting single candidate thus ruling the country withouit opposition.
In practice also there is no existance of opposition as they are equally corrupt and they are involved in similar corruption charges in their rulling states like in Coal mining lease etc.
In my opinion election reforms are only solution to such tricks in which elections are inevitable as voters get an option of " NAPASANDI" as sugested by Shri Anna ji. If there would have been such a provision in Dimple's case she would has lost the seat and debared for future nomination.

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